The Wire Magazine 1997-03

THE

ADVENTURES IN MODERN MUSIC

WIRE

Bill

dispensing bad wisdom

PANASONIC

& the warped world of weird audio

Laika

space rock

Airto More Ira’s

jukebox

an astro

IELECTRONICA • POST-ROCK • DRUM W BASS • NEW JAZZ & CLASSICAL • GLOBAL

P'.M<QH , atrl

inside

your monthly exploration of new music

12 Global Ear: Haiti

Running the voodoo down on a remote Caribbea

14 Bites

David Kristian analogue folkforms

16 The Register

Taking stock of the ins and outs of the sonic underground

18 Laika

Returning to the post-rock fray after a two year absence, the space age duo tell Louise Gray about the joys
of communicating via bass energy and tribal rhythm

20 The Underdog

Trevor Jackson is a busy man: label-runner, remixer to the stars, transgressive DJ, a groundbreaking
producer in the opposing worlds of avant rock and UK rap. By Jake Barnes

22 Kenny Process Team

This East London guitar combo are surf rock surrealists, Easy Listening fans tripping out on the lo-fi rock of
Capt Beefheart and Duane Eddy. By Ben Watson

24 Metamkine

Holed up in an arts lab in the south of France, this maverick multimedia crew are projecting new life into
the grey world of electroacoustics and musique concrete. By Rahma Khazam

26 Exotic Audio Research

Melting the borders between art and science, musicians such as Panasonic, Disinformation, John Duncan,
Alan Lamb, Bernhard Gunter and JLIAT are sourcing sounds from increasingly alien domains. By Rob Young

32 Bill Drummond

King Boy D has always provoked controversy and outrage. Exclusive interview by Ben Watson

38 Invisible Jukebox: Airto Moreira

a, Chick Corea, Hermeto

42 ESP-Disk

For 12 years, this New York label provided a refuge for the black sheep of 60s counterculture, from Sun
Ra and Ornette Coleman to The Fugs and Charles Manson. Story by Howard Mandel and Edwin Pouncey

50 Jungle Brothers

Nation, from block party breakbeats to low slung funk. By Peter Shapiro

reviews

5 3 Soundcheck March's selected albums and 12"s, including new releases from Anokha, Axiom, Carla Bley,
Nick Cave, Carl Craig, Eleventh Dream Day, Haruomi Hosorto, l-Roy, Ben Neill, Neul, Panasonic, Patrick Pulsinger,

Terry Riley, Scorn and more 72 Print Run New music books

history of funk, Asian tool, Iggy Pop and more 76 Multimedia Music caught in the Net

4 Editorial 6 Letters 8 Soundings March’s selected live events and dub spaces 52 Charts
71 Freefall 80BackIssues 81 Subscribe FREEBIood&FireCD 82 DavidToop

editors

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THE HI 6HL I AN1ICIPAU0 U.S.

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BACK CATAL06UE BAS ARRIVED.
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SURGER/x OF TOUCH.
EXPECT MORE SO|k,N.
(IRCLUOING A NEW ALBUM)

(Accidental orchestra

(Robert wlllLa«s of captain oeefheart

also available on tone casualties:

( 7 7 3 )

letters

Write to: Letters. The Wire. 45-46 Poland Street. London W1V 3DF,
or fax: 0171 287 4767, ore-mail: the_wire@ukonline.co.uk
Every letter published wins a FREE CD

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MEW RUE LI nil

RURXL-FBLE OIU aUP.mC. .2

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HUTECHrE. LIUE.

February 20. Edinburgh Venue. 21. Newcastle Cumberland Arms. 22.

"Low” SvmpHonY.

"Heroes" Symphony

by PHiLip Glass
FR om the music of David BowiE
AnD BRiAn Eno

global

u ear

A survey of sounds from around the planet. This month...

§

f

: Port-au-Prince temple choir

bites

bites

Talvin Singh

the

An inventory of leftfie
the white: their oppoi

register

i music. In the black: items with a foot inside the door of acceptability; in
.te numbers, unassimilated and stuck out there in glorious obscurity

Back in circulation after a two year hiatus, Laika, the duo of Margaret Fiedler and Guy
instruct Louise Gray in the art of communicating via bass energy and rhythmic complexity

Trevor Jackson’s life as The Underdog contains a wealth offrSge music activity: label-runner,
remixer, DJ, groundbreaking productions in post-rock andH rap. Interview by Jake Barnes

!

(S3HMV

The class ic lost second album |

ileased for the first time in this country
on February 24th

acousmatic

for the people

LF Engineering C6

Wynette. Framed in a misty oval, she sang: "They're justified and they're andent/And devastating protest-montage of helicopters, bagpipes and carpet-bombs. The KLF
they like to roam the lancVThey're justified and they're anaent/l hope you understand ", were driving pointed question marks into the body of contemporary mass culture. To
each syllable caressed by the trembling sincerity of her Alabama twang. Having those who were bored with the ordinary, this felt like a rallying cry.

KING BOYD

For over a decade, Bill Drummond has been firing poison darts into the bloated body of
pop culture. Everything he touches turns to controversial gold, from The KLF’s rave culture
fantasies to The K Foundation's art world terrorism. Exclusive interview by Ben Watson

Every month we play a musician a series of rec
which they're asked to identify and comment o:
with no prior knowledge of what they’re about ■
hear. This monthit’s the turn of. . .

Tested by Mike Bari

invisible jukebox

invisible jukebox

in all
langu

Formed in 1962 by an Esperanto-speaking N
created a parallel universe where undergrounc
revolutionary cosmic jazz of Frank Lowe, Milfc
Ornette Coleman and Sun Ra. Story by Howarc

Besides free jazz, the ESP-Disk catalogue contained some of the most bizarre, unfathomable
records to emerge from the 1960s. Edwin Pouncey picks ten of the strangest...

/ of their 80s contemporaries Rakim and Ultramagnetic M(
Dr Octagon) and the clinical turntable precision of Eric B or I s
je rich, numinous music that connected to the world outsid

parodying of "Jimbrowski",
follow-up, 1989's Done By The Forces Of Nature.'

WS

Todd Terry House groove, and the machismo

U The breakbeat was the part that
moved me. Not necessarily the record,
but the way the DJ spun the record J J

an Afrocentric album, bu

eclipsed both critically and commercially by the Daisy Age power of I
?et High And Rising. (Ironically, De La Soul were connected with The

basic instincts

The music released by New York's Jungle Brothers over the last decade provides
a vision of the HipHop Nation in microcosm: block parties, freestyling, turntable
alchemy low-slung funk, black noize. NYC interview by Peter Shapiro

of funk horns and smooth:

The Future
Sound Of Jazz

also out now:

029 ■ £ ftnwf Mighty Black ■ Remixes -12"

028 ■ Be anfleld ■ :-.n Qr. B.J. Hams Experien ce EP ■ 2x12"

027 ■ BxateGmnm FmEm

026 ■ Taran ■ Mod And Mini And Space Age ■ CD/2-LP
025 ■ V.A. ■ Compost Records - Lytic Cocktail ■ CD/3-LP

charts

Playlists from the outer limits of planet sound

Peter Thomas Sound Orchester — Raumpatrouille

(Bungalow)

Eddie Henderson — Inside Out (Capricorn)

Andre Gurov Revelation Of Wrath (Jazz Fudgei
Liquid Liquid Successive Reflexes (99 Records)

Boymerang - Still (Prototype)

Divine Styler - Spiral Wall Containing.. (Giant

Human League - Dignity Of Labour (Fast Product)

V

«

sound .
check

soundcheck

the folk
implosion

upcoming in april
peal session
london appearance

Distributed by

GW

el (0181) 875 9220
ax (0181) 875 9227

soundcheck

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©

! FEBRUARY 1997

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soprano clarinets, sopranmo. a to and F sax-

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- harmonia mundi -

soundcheck

soundcheck

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